One Year Of Tax Hikes On The Rich Is Promptly Spent As $60 Billion Sandy Relief Aid Bill Passes

After more than two months of political grandstanding, finally the $60 billion pork-laden Sandy relief aid bill has passed through the House in a 241-180 vote (with 1 democrat and 179 republicans voting no), with the vote passing courtesy of just 49 republicans who voted with the democrats. The reminder objected in protest "against a bill that many conservatives say is too big and provides funding for things other than immediate relief for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut" Politico reports. Specifically, the House approved a $50 billion relief bill, after several hours of contentious debate in which scores of Republicans tried unsuccessfully to cut the size of the bill and offset a portion of it with spending cuts. $9.7 billion had been already voted on January 4th for a flood insurance lending facility.The biggest winner today? Chris Christie whose anti-Boehner soapbox rant drama two weeks ago may have been just the breaking straw that forced the passage of this porkulus bill.

Republican and Democratic supporters of the bill argued throughout the day that everyone should support it, or run the risk of losing votes for future disaster bills that might help people in their districts.

"Florida, good luck with no more hurricanes," Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) shouted to any member who might oppose the bill. "California, congratulations, did you get rid of the Andreas Fault? The Mississippi's in a drought. Do you think you're not going to have a flood again?

"Who are you going to come to when you have these things? We need this, we need it now. Do the right thing, as we have always done for you."

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a similar warning to members who oppose the bill."

I hope that we can have an overwhelming bipartisan vote," she said. "I think that ideally… that would be the right thing to do.

"But as a practical matter, you just never know what mother nature may have in store for you in your region, and you would certainly want the embrace of the entire nation around you and your area, for your constituents, for your communities, for our country."

In other words, let's cut spending... but not when that spending may involve me being the benficiary. Incidentally, this is precisely why the US government will never, ever address the true cause of its insolvency: spending. Because doing so may mean being unable to rely on other, generous taxpayers when push comes to shove.

Scores of Republicans ignored these warnings and voted to either cut the bill or offset parts of it with cuts elsewhere. But there were not enough deficit hawks to overcome the many Republicans who favored the bill as it was presented, along with nearly every Democrat.

And yet another reason why the debt ceiling deal has no choice but to be enacted, with the usual theater, is the following:

The other big vote was on whether to offset the $17 billion baseline bill with a 1.63 percent cut to discretionary government programs. The sponsor of this language, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), argued that while prior disaster bills did not have offsetting spending cuts, Congress is now operating in the context of a $16 trillion debt.

"The time has come and gone in this nation where we can walk in here one day and spend nine or 17 or 60 billion dollars and not think about who's paying for it," Mulvaney said.

But Mulvaney was rebuffed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who opposed the idea of subjecting discretionary programs to an across-the-board cut. That left Mulvaney asking all members why Congress can't find cuts to fund important disaster recovery aid.

"Just tell me what you are willing to do without," said Mulvaney. "Are we willing and able to do without anything so that these people can get this money this year?"

So, basically, there is nothing that the House was willing and able to do without. But yes: spending cuts.

Funny stuff.

And putting it all into context, $60 billion just happens to be the annual benefit from the Obama tax hikes on the rich. And just like that, the entire first year's budget benefit was spent in under 2 weeks.

Because if you tell them there is more money, they will gladly take it...

People should realize that the Porkapocalypse like this, much of which will flow to things totally unrelated to "the storm of the century that was a million times worse than Katrina," and that will also conveniently allow people of great means to rebuild their coastal homes, despite not having property insurance that would allow them to otherwise do so (thanks, oh generous taxpayers, as Chucky "Fuck Flyover Country" Schumer would say) that is doing the nation in, by death of trillions in papercuts, is equally the fault of both parties.

Or has anyone missed how these types of bloated, pork over-laden appropriation bills pass with "just enough" votes of the "opposition party?"

What an incredible "whew!" moment it must be when the votes are tallied, with CONgress scum waiting anxiously for the final vote count, to find out that the latest in CONgressional lard-ness has passed in a squeaker...with the "opposition" party then claiming the moral high ground for "opposing it." /s

Big Govt is expensive. So we tap anyone working for higher taxes, what else. . We are well beyond tax increases making a difference, but that won't stop Obama and the Democrats from playing their class warfare socialist meme. Obama has absolutely no desire to reduce spending, in fact he's trying to expand Govt spending as fast as possible. The system is just running on pure debt until doesn't.

Consistent in their treason yes, the only thing they are not is the degree. The more time passes, the more treasonous they get... so I guess that they would be consistent on that too... the rate at which they become more treasonous.

It takes $85 billion [per month] of JOOBUX, at last count [printed out of thin air] to keep the Ponzi running [& the beneficiaries siphoning PHYZZ off the top in the process]... I'm supposed to be worried about this?

You just nailed it FS. Who gives a shit. I am the first one to yell at everyone in NY that they should not live next to the fuckin water. But you know what? Fuck it. If you are going to give a trillion a year to a bunch of bankers then hook up everyone else too in some way. Let's ride this ponzi into the sunset. The faster the better.

I should have been MORE ACCURATE in describing them as ['DOLLARS' which print themselves ~ due to some unknown & androgynous phenomenon]... It's gotta be some nano-tech kinda thing that nobody has ever heard of before...

My bad [if I'm wrong]... As with MOST things... I'm the first in line to gather up a group and hit the first notes of 'KUYBAYA' & sing away the issue... That usually solves the world's problems... ECKS - pecially on INTERNET BLOGS...

Fonz...I am beginning to be as pessimistic as you. My neighbor down the street is on the credit card hole for over $65k and hasn't paid any of them in months...so what does he do? Goes to the home improvement store which promptly (incredibly!) hands him yet another credit card which he uses to redeocrate his entire house...

I have my friends and family all telling me I am pessimistic....Now I have people on Zerohedge of all places telling me they are beginning to be as pessimistic as me....Holy shit I better start taking some happy pills....Thanks Never one that really puts things in perspective for me LOL. Never one don't go down my road. Hang in there man.

I always thought it was not so much optomism or pessimism as it is reality. Bring up math and people shut down. I try to live in reality. But shit maybe I am off in the deep end.

The funny thing is I believe that if we get a reset we at least have a chance to start over and things can get better. So that makes me an optomist or a pessimist? I give up....

Dog knows where I'd be without other 'peeps'... Whether or not they think I'm batshit crazy... Only the JEWS [on this site] think I should be sent to the gas chamber... [Which is ODD, because I don't feel the same way in reverse... I only think they should stop being SHITS & stop trying to hold the world economy hostage because they're a bunch of fucking greedy pricks]...

BTW [I posted this on a different thread today]... Anecdotally ~ I was (as mentioned above), IN the coin shop today... EARLY ~ like minutes after they opened... There was only one other dude in there at that moment... He was actually EXCHANGING about 10 AGE's for about a monster box worth of 10 oz. Ag bars...

No comment ~ just sayin'... [because a transaction like that isn't like buying a pack of Juicy Fruits]...

When the Rome and British Empries collapsed it was like a very big wet brown fart not a sudden explosion. The good old US is just starting to realise it's pants might not be big nough to hold the shit thats about to happen.

Sixty billon so a bunch of rich folks can rebuild there summer vacation homes so hurricane next can come and wipe it out again. This country is truly hopeless. Nothing is ever my fault and I should not have any risk in my life.

Does anyone know what is in this bill? Or it this another one of those deals where we have to pass it in order to find out what is in it?

I read some reports saying that it (or some version of it being discussed) contained things like $150M for fisheries in Alaska. I bet that if you actually looked at the bill, you would find that a majority of the money goes to states that were never touched by Sandy.

What? Congress spent some money to help. OMG, what is the world coming too? If they really wanted to pay for this, they could cut the Defense budget. But the Koch Brothers would never have approved that.

I would argue that the fuckwads like nwmeeme saying that Sandy was going to be a nothingburger were the reall trolls.. Unless having a balanced view based on facts is the new definition of trolling....

I was pointing out that the models were predicting major damage.... sue me...

These people didn't have insurance? Why must we pay to rebuild in areas where housing should never have been built in the first place? Now they will throw up new housing so that the next storm can take it all back down. And what? We pay again?

Now they will throw up new housing so that the next storm can take it all back down.

If the "next storm" occurs in 2113, I doubt anyone will remember you mentioned this.

Do you have earthquake and flood insurance, yourself?

The whole take-home point from rare events is that they're *rare.* If you live in Denver and have flood insurance, more power to you, take advantage of every benefit you can with your discretionary income.

SOME folks would consider that a poor spending choice.

(I'll sell you some *comet* insurance, by the way. How much coverage would you be needing?)

You obviously do not buy into global warming, otherwise you would know that the 100 year storm is a thing of the past. And yes, I have earth quake insurance, but not flood insurance, because I know not to live in a flood plain. Anyone foolish enough to live there and NOT have flood insurance deserves what they get. The rest of us should not have to pay for their ignorance.

OK, dick-breath, given that you felt compelled to come at me with this bullshit not just once, but TWICE, I'll drop some knowledge for your worthless uninformed ass.

I'm friendly with a couple who own a house on Long Island who actually HAD THE FLOOD INSURANCE and haven't gotten paid yet because the insurers were waiting for the Feds to make a decision about whether there was going to be an aid bill passed.

Now shut the fuck up you stupid fucking cunt and go back to molesting your neighbors' inbred children.

I'm OK with helping people recover from disaster. I'm NOT OK with people rebuilding in a known flood zone.

I just watched a special on PBS about how the ocean levels are rising. If someone wants to get financial aid, then they can not rebuild in a flood zone (e.g., next to the beach) with TAXPAYER money. If someone wants to rebuild on the coast or in a flood zone, then use your own money, and good luck getting insurance.

This country needs to be separated locally, and have regions and/or states each have their own insurance programs to fund their local disasters (much as parts of Social Security are now). Right now, as each region is affected, compensation in the form of pork reaches to all 4 corners of the country in a tit for tat congressional battle. Where as long as each regions constituents get an equal share over time to please the home crowd, at the expence of the remainders. Who did make more frugile choices to avoid the costly decisions that were concocked by our now obviously myopic dysfunctional gvt..

How about the fact that every single Democrat (except 1) voted for this? At least a majority of Republicans voted against this farce. I'd like all of them to be like Ron Paul, but at least there's some Republicans that aren't gun grabbers or pork lovers.

Get a load of this: This is a true story. I live in a small town that was nearly leveled in 2004 by Hurricane Charley. Since it was an election year, {and other reasons I won't get into}, the Federal money {taxpayer money} poured into the area the next day. FEMA and a whole host of other agencies came in like the cavalry. They issued "ATM cash cards" to anyone who's zip code was on the disaster list. All that one needed to do, was take that card to any ATM, and you could get three withdrawals of $400, for a total of $1200. NO DAMAGES EVEN HAD TO BE PROVEN. Many of the people who got these cards, in fact MOST of the people who got these cards, had no damage at all. Some lived as far as sixty miles away from the storm! I was volunteering at the time at a substance abuse center. I heard over and over from the junkies there that they had got these cards, and went straight to their drug dealer, TRADING THEM FOR DRUGS. This is why it is best that disaster relief is best left to the Salvation Army {who was first on the scene} and the Red Cross. Let the Feds give them half as much money, and they could do twice as much relief as the Federal agencies can. When the Feds are involved, the money ALWAYS gets pissed away and mis-spent, or even worse, in the hands of criminals. I'm sure a fair amount was outright stolen too.

1. The new taxes generate about 120 B a year not 60 B as Tyler states. The spending cuts in the new deal is only 15B. So while it is not true that this bill wipes out all of the revenue from new taxes, it is true that it increased spending by double of the "spending cuts" in one bill. One thing conservatives can do better is to make sure their facts are facts and verifiable. Over time it creates trust as the liberal math is usually pur bs.

2. I have been at odds with Grover Norquist at times but the reality is he is right. What i'd like to see is more out of election cycle facts being projected to the public in real time. I mean i got 50 flyers from them during the fall but why not air a tv commercial now right after this Sandy bill passesd and show all of the pork in it the bill and ask the question why is US so far in debt? Then answer it with the pork in this bill and ask people to demand more from their elected officials. Name names.

3. I have been saying for weeks that the Dems will keep finding babies to hold up to put pressure on everyone to pass flawed legislation. It was middle class taxpayers for the cliff, it was victims for the hurricane bill, now it is social security recipients for the debt ceiling. Again, conservatives need to do a much better job of making sure they bring up, every time, what the fight is REALLY about and not just the moniker that the DEms put forth. The Dems have become masters of PR spin. The GOP/conservatives need to combat that much better and until they do they will keep being painted into a corner with lose/lose propositions

I know I have a longer memory than the Average American, but can anyone tell me where 1 dime of the trillion dollar stimulous went? Shit that money just vaporized! And no one gives a rats ass. Its comical

Why is $9.7 B needed for flood insurance? Flood insurance has mandatory premiums paid by the homeowner. Has the past money paid just gone into the General Fund? I guess it must have been in the same lock box as Social Security.